High on the Desert
dener
Master Gar
hise County
Coc
Newsletter
Vol. 19, No. 9 SEPTEMBER 2008
The University of Arizona and U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperating
The Virtual Gardener—Snapshots
Mea Culpa. There were two errors in
last month’s article on Echinopsis. First,
I referred to Echinopsis as “hedgehog
cacti.” Echinocereus are hedgehogs, not
Echinopsis, and that is what the sentence
first stated. Later, when I proof-read the
article, I spotted the anomalous reference to “Echinocereus” and without
thinking changed it to “Echinopsis.”
Come to think of it, I’m not sure how a
sentence about hedgehogs got in there in
the first place.
Elsewhere in the article I stated that
some of the first Echinopsis hybrids
were created by crosses with “Lobilia.”
Well, in the first place, there is no genus
Lobilia . The closest would be Lobelia
(AKA
Indian Tobacco, Pukeweed,
Vomitwort), and that, indeed, would be
a remarkable plant to cross with a
cactus. The correct genus is Lobivia .
Upside Down Tomatoes-an Update.
The tomatoes were doing OK last
month, although the plants were smaller
and less prolific than my conventionally
grown tomatoes, but then disaster
struck. I went out one morning last week
to water them and found most of the
leaves gone. Tomato hornworms! I
removed the caterpillars and the plants
are starting to recover, but they have a
long way to go. I doubt I will see many
more tomatoes from them.
All in all, I would give this experiment a C minus. But the flowers planted
above the tomatoes are doing great!
Inside this issue:
Fall Landscape Tour
2
September Reminders
3
MG Internation Conf.
3
Cuttings ‘N’ Clippings
3
Propagation Box
4
Call’s Comments
5
Garden Tip 4837
5
Tomato hornworm
(Manduca quinquemaculata)
(Continued on page 2)
Cochise County Cooperative Extension
www.ag.arizona.edu/cochise/mg/
1140 N. Colombo, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635
450 S. Haskell, Willcox, AZ 85643
(520) 458-8278, Ext. 2141
(520) 384-3594
PAGE 2
(Continued from page 1)
Rain Gardens . A couple of
weeks ago I ran across a reference to
“Rain Gardens” and Googled the
term. From a Wikipedia article, I
found that a Rain Garden is a
“planted depression that is designed
impervious urban areas like roofs,
driveways, walkways, and compacted lawn areas.” The article went
on to say that the concept originated
in Prince George’s County, Maryland in the 1990s and has since
spread to Minnesota, Washington
State, Michigan, Georgia, Oregon,
and Delaware.
Although a program called
“Rainwater Gardens” may have
orginated in Maryland, the concept
of in situ rainwater harvesting and
rainwater-only gardening has been
around for a long time here in the
arid Southwest. Native Americans
have been doing it for hundreds, if
not thousands, of years. Nevertheless, there are some good how-todo-it ideas on the Web for creating
rainwater gardens. One of the best is
a 56-page manual called Rain
Gardens, a How-to Manual for
Homeowners produced by the
Cooperative Extension of the
University of Wisconsin
(http://cleanwater.uwex.edu/pubs/
pdf/home.rgmanual.pdf).
The manual addresses where to
locate the rain garden, how big to
make it, and what to plant in it (if
you live in Wisconsin). Native
plants are recommended. In addition, the manual contains descriptions of construction techniques and
shows many plans to help you
design your garden.
All in all, this is a great document
and is worth looking at if you are
interested in creating a rain garden.
Fall Landscape Tour
The 2008 Fall WaterWise//Master
Gardener Xeriscape Tour, Sunday,
September 7 from 1-4:00 p.m. is
going to be fabulous! Our hardworking committee had so many
great choices that five yards were
chosen. Each yard is completely
different yet has water conserving
features from plant choices to beautiful hardscapes to rainwater collection systems.
Unlike the spring tour that features smaller in-town landscapes,
the fall tour emphasizes larger landscapes in the grasslands. We live in
beautiful grasslands, and it is great
to show how larger lots do not have
to landscape the entire area but can
incorporate a landscape into the
natural area. The yards are in the
Pueblo del Sol Village One and
Huachuca Mountain Village area—
affectionately referred to by Master
Gardener Joyce Gay as “The Reservation.” I’ll let you figure it out!
Here are some highlights from
the yards:
Yard #1 is surrounded by natural
grassland. Unfortunately, I can’t say
“native” grasses as the majority of
grass here in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed is Lehmann lovegrass
originating from South Africa. This
grass was introduced to the United
States in the 1930’s to restore grasslands and did so well it spread and
Until next time, happy surfing.
Gary A. Gruenhagen, Master Gardener
virtualgardener@cox.net
Lehmann lovegrass
has taken over native grasses.
However, it does provide food for
birds, erosion control, and looks
lovely blowing in the wind.
The three good characteristics
of Lehmann lovegrass is what the
owners of Yard #1 wanted to enhance with their landscape. They
have left the majority of the large
property to the grass and have
added wildflowers, shrubs, a tree
or two, and cacti to the small landscaped area immediately around
the Santa Fe style home. The
owner doesn’t pull a plant until
she knows what it is, and is often
surprised that what appeared to be
a “weed” turned out to be a valuable food plant (an example is the
Hymenothrix wislizenii, “Yellow
thimblehead” which is a Lesser
Goldfinch favorite).
Yard #2 is a complete opposite
of Yard #1. It is well manicured
with mowed grass and a tidy,
graveled landscaped area. This
owner doesn’t pamper the plants
accenting the grassed area, but has
an amazing green thumb. The area
isn’t on a drip system, and he has
grown a good sized Chaste Tree
from a cutting, has a lantana at
least five feet wide (no supplemental water), grew a five foot tall
desert willow from seed that didn’t receive supplemental water
after the first year or so, and has
well pruned Arizona rosewoods
(among other shrubs). Inside the
back courtyard his wife has discovered the High Country Gardens catalogue. Need we say
more?
Yard #3 is a mix of the two
yards with hardscapes mixed in. A
lightly mowed “back 40,” an outdoor fireplace room, a rainwater
fountain, rain containers and rain
(Continued on page 3)
PAGE 3
(Continued from page 2)
chains, beautiful sandstone patio
and walkways, and colorful
painted wall accents make this
property fun, practical, and jazzy.
Six irrigation valves for the drip
system allow the owners to water
in hydrozones during the hot and
dry seasons. Oh, did I forget the
plants? The plants are the “sugar
roses” in this landscape. They are
the beautiful accents that enhance
the landscape “cake.”
Right next door to Yard #3 is
Yard #4. This is a front yard only,
but no more is needed. Wow! Talk
about color. This is a mature butterfly attracting garden that is
chock full of plants. It is like one
of those look again pictures, because the more you look, the more
you see.
Although Yard #5 doesn’t incorporate the grasslands into it,
the tour committee couldn’t resist
including it on the tour. It is just
too beautiful. It was on the fall
2004 tour when it was newly
planted with the front lightly landscaped. Now that it is complete
and mature it is like a botanical
garden. A small pond (shaded to
reduce evaporation) and meandering walkways draw you into the
yard. Lower branches on the back
wall shrubs are left touching the
ground to hide the quail who love
to feed in the yard. Unseen berms
and swales make sure no stormwater is leaves the property.
Don’t miss this great selfguided tour by getting a map from
jwilliam@ag.arizona.edu or call
the Cooperative Extension office
at 458-8278 x 2141. If you are
unable to get a map before the
tour, they will be available during
the hours of the tour at 4146
Pauite Way or 5043 S. Laguna
Ave.
Cado Daily, WaterWise Educator
September
Reminders
♦
♦
Keep on watering!
Plant cool-season flowers and
veggies
♦ Start shopping for bulbs (The
bulletin Bulbs for Southern
Arizona is available from the
Cooperative Extension offices.)
2009 International
Master Gardener
Conference
On-line early registration is
now available for the conference scheduled for March 22—
26, 2009 in Las Vegas, NV. For
information and video go to:
www.unce.unr.edu/imgc. The
conference is sponsored by the
Master Gardeners of Southern
Nevada.
Robert E. Call
Extension Agent, Horticulture
Carolyn Gruenhagen
Editor
Cuttings
‘N’
Clippings
T The next CCMGA meeting
is 5:00 p.m. Thursday, September 4 at the University of
Arizona South campus Public
Meeting Room. The speaker
will be Rick Weisberg on
Rainwater Harvesting.
T A free Landscape Tour
sponsored by WaterWise and
the Cochise County Master
Gardeners will be held on
September 7 from 1—4:00 p.m.
and will feature low water use
landscapes. Master Gardener
docents will be at each yard to
answer questions. Plant lists
will be available. For a map call
458-8278, Ext. 2141 or e-mail
jwilliam@ag.arizona.edu. See
Page 2 of this newsletter for
more information.
T The Cochise County Fair
will be held September 25—28
at the fair grounds located in
Douglas, AZ. Fair books are
available at the Cooperative
Extension offices.
T The
5th High Desert
Garden Fair will be held
October 18 from 8:00 a.m—
1:00 p.m. at the University of
Arizona South Campus. This
event is free to the public and
will feature three workshops,
vendors offering plants, garden
equipment, arts and crafts—all
things garden related. If you
would like to be a vendor or for
more information contact Sarah
Turan at (520) 803-0718 or
asmcran@cox.net.
PAGE 4
Construction of a Simple Propagation Box
Propagation of plants at
home is an extremely economical process that provides
you with a wealth of healthy
seedlings. Vegetative propagation by cuttings will produce
exact biological clones of the
parent plant, to include the sex
of that plant if dioecious in
nature.
The instructions presented
here may be altered to meet
your circumstance or budget,
but the box will be durable
enough to withstand many enjoyable years of meeting your
desires.
1. Acquire a 10-gallon aquarium, typically, 20” long x 10”
deep x 12” high. A larger size
will be too heavy and a smaller
size is usually not high
enough.
2. Thoroughly wash the inside and outside of the aquarium with ammonia /water mix,
or glass cleaner to ready for
painting. Using 1” masking
tape, equally tape off the outside bottom of the aquarium so
that once painted there will be
painted and non-painted striping.
About 2” from bottom of aquarium
apply a strip of 1’’ masking tape
around all four outside sides of
glass.
3. Using exterior grade white
(gloss or flat) spray paint, paint the
entire exterior of the aquarium.
One 12 ounce can of paint should
provide needed coverage. Please
read instructions and paint professionally. Once the paint is dry, pull
the tape. This process will allow
enough light in for photosynthesis,
but not so much as to burn or overheat plant tissues.
4. Make a frame from common,
untreated, 1” x 4” pine that is one
inch larger in dimension on the
inside than the length and depth of
the outside of the aquarium. This
will allow a ½” space between the
frame and the aquarium when project is complete.
5. Cut and staple 1/8” – 3/16”
hardware cloth to one side of
frame. This will be the bottom of
the box.
6. On top of hardware cloth place
1 x 4’s, cut the width of the frame,
two inches in from the short edge
of frame and attach with screws;
this will provide an area for your
fingers when lifting the box. Add
one or two more 1” x 4” slats between the edge ones and secure.
Do not close off entire bottom of
frame. Good drainage is essential.
7. If a sandy rooting medium
(recommended) is used, cut to
size and insert a piece of fly
screen on top of hardware cloth
on the inside of frame.
Add rooting medium for specific
intent to the top of frame, water
thoroughly, place aquarium upside down and inside frame. See
Figure 1.
There you go, a mini, portable
greenhouse, great for propagating
cuttings for about twenty bucks!
Volume of box (if sized as
above) will be approximately 563
cubic inches. That is about four
three pound coffee cans full.
Depending on medium used,
sand, peat, perlite, vermiculite, or
a mixture the box will weigh 30 –
35 pounds when wet.
Rarely is there a greater gift
then that of a home grown plant.
DeForest S. Lewis, Master Gardener
“I have learned that talking
to plants doesn’t do
squat for them.
Watering does.
If you don’t believe me
take two plants. Water one.
Talk to the other.”
—Jim Koweek
Just Add Water
Figure 1: Simple Propagation Box
PAGE 5
Call’s Classic
Comments
Fall is my favorite time to garden
in Southeastern Arizona. Many of
the cool-season crops, those that
can withstand freezing, do very
well in Cochise County during the
fall. In fact, the fall in Cochise
County is generally a better time to
raise cool-season crops. These
vegetables include the cabbage
family, i.e., broccoli, cauliflower,
kale, and cabbage among others.
Also, spinach, small beets, peas—
both snap and edible pod—turnips,
radishes, lettuce, mustard greens,
and other greens can be planted.
The onion family does best when
planted in the fall and then over
wintered and harvested in early
summer. Members include garlic,
leeks, onions, and chives. If planting bulb-type onions be sure they
are short-day types. Prepare and
plant during the last week in August or first two weeks in September. I have had broccoli, cabbage,
cauliflower, and onions growing
the whole winter long during mild
winters, pulling the plants out in
May to make way for warm-season
crops. During the cold winter
months of January and February
they did not grow much but they
survived.
Robert E. Call
Extension Agent, Horticulture
Note: Reprinted from the September
2002 Cochise County Master Gardener Newsletter. Rob Call is currently
on a University of Arizona sabbatical.
Garden Tip #4837
Zucchini grows from seed to
maturity in about 50 days. That
means that if you were imprudent
and planted your zucchini as early
as possible, you might be well into
harvesting your second ton of this
squash by now—assuming of
course that you only have one
plant. It also means that you have
had a chance to try hundreds of
recipes—except for the color, the
zucchini frozen yogurt with basil
and brown sugar isn’t really as bad
as it sounds—and you are looking
through your senior year high
school annual to see if you can find
someone you know who has not
already been the lucky recipient of
a “gift” from your garden.
Well, have I got a tip for you! (I
must confess, that this one is not
original. It came from the
November 1989 issue of National
Gardening.) You can use zucchini
to treat your aching tootsies—no,
you do not have to submerge your
feet in chilled zucchini slush.
Believe it or not, someone has
discovered that zucchini can be
used to stretch your shoes.
Here’s how:
First you have to coarsely chop
up a large zucchini and boil it until
it is sort of squishy. Next you have
to scoop out the squishy part and
drain it in a large strainer for a
while. After some of the excess
water has drained off, spoon the
stuff into a freezer bag—the
original article suggests using two
nested bags to assure that none of
the squish escapes. Finally, stuff the
bag(s) into a shoe that you want to
stretch and put everything into the
freezer overnight. The next
morning...voilà. Your shoe is
slightly larger than it was the night
before and now fits like a glove. Of
course you have to wait an hour or
so for the slush to thaw enough to
extract the bag before you can try
on the shoe.
An added benefit to this method
of shoe stretching is that you still
have a bag of squished zucchini
when you have finished with your
shoes. This combined in a sauce pan
with a quarter pound of tofu and
some grated rutabaga . . .
\
Gary Gruenhagen, Master Gardener
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture, James
A. Christenson, Director, Cooperative Extension, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Arizona and Arizona Counties cooperating.
The University of Arizona is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex,
national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation in its programs and activities.
The information given herein is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by Cooperative Extension is implied.
Any products, services, or organizations that are mentioned, shown, or indirectly implied in this publication do not imply endorsement by the University of
Arizona.
The University of Arizona
Cooperative Extension
Cochise County
450 S. Haskell Avenue
Willcox, AZ 85643-2790
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE PAID
WILLCOX, AZ
PERMIT NO. 70
September 25—28
Douglas, AZ